Prepare for ‘Boeing-Boeing’: A show of farcical proportions

Are you amused by satire and ironic situations? Or perhaps a plot in which the central figure is suddenly thrown into a ridiculous situation with a cleverly exploited twist? If so, you should come see the theater department’s latest production of Boeing-Boeing.

Written by French playwright Marc Camoletti, the play is the farcical telling of a young American bachelor named Bernard, who lives a comfortable, leisurely lifestyle in a swanky apartment in Paris.

Enraptured by his perfect life, Bernard is individually engaged to three beautiful stewardesses, Gabriella, Gloria and Gretchen, each completely oblivious to the fact that the other two exist.

He manages to court each one by covertly working around their non-intersecting flight schedules, with each woman abiding in a different location at a given time and consecutively taking turns to stop in Paris one after the other.

Smugly pleased with his scheming ways, Bernard finds that his ingenious plan is suddenly turned upside-down when a new line of faster, state-of-the-art aircrafts is engineered, altering the airlines’ existing route schedules and thus allowing all three of his sweethearts to have a longer layover in Paris.

Worse comes to worst when all three women pop into town simultaneously, with Bernard’s friend Robert and Bernard’s housekeeper in for a muddled botch of which lies to tell to whom. Disaster ensues.

Considered the most performed French play by the Guinness World Records, Union’s production of the show will be based on the American adaptation translated from the French version, released in 2008.

When asked about the production, Belt, who stars as the Italian stewardess Gabriella, remarks, “I think it’s a really fun, Mad Men-era comedy that people will really enjoy … it’s an upbeat and fast-moving farce that will definitely make you laugh.” In terms of preparing for her role, Belt states, “After spending three months studying abroad in Italy, I had to learn how to truly perfect the accent which I had heard all around me — that’s definitely been one of the most fun aspects of being in the show!”

Tickets are now on sale for the performances, which will run from Nov. 6 through Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m.